An ex-Royal Navy officer’s converted warship has been seized by Spain amid fears he is a mercenary planning to fight pirates in Somalia. Former Lieutenant Chris Enmarsh’s decommissioned gunboat Defender [with its 8-man ex-Royal Marines crew] has been stopped from sailing since being forced to stop off in Tenerife for repairs...

Bit in the paper, ex submariner Chris Emmarch 53 from Penryn Cornwall on board his decommissioned 127ft warship Defender was seized by Senegalise authorities after the ship arrived in Senegalise waters, he was in the papers a few weeks ago after putting into Tenerife for repairs and was fined by the Spanish for dodgy plumbing but he did a runner without paying up, says in the paper he was going into fishery protection using the converted gunboat as a deterrent, anyone know this chap

Pair found guilty of entering Senegal illegally after converted warship was seized

Two men have been found guilty of entering Senegal illegally after their converted warship was seized by marine commandos off the West African country.

Skipper Chris Enmarch, 53, from Penryn was handed a six-month suspended sentence while Saltash man Andrew Bayliss, who crewed on the decommissioned Defender, received a one-month suspended jail term at Dakar Criminal Court earlier this month.

Enmarch, an ex-Royal Navy submarine engineer, was also convicted for operating a vessel without a licence, failing to keep an official ship's log, and for illegal possession of a weapon.